According to polar news reports, recently, Lushan County, Pingdingshan, Henan Province, spent more than 7 million yuan to build the "cowherd and weaver girl" sculpture, but was complained by netizens that it was "expensive and ugly". Later, a media reporter called the Lushan County Housing and Construction Bureau on this matter, and the staff said that the bidding and construction of the sculpture was in line with the process, and if there was any doubt about the cost of the sculpture, you could ask the audit department of Pingdingshan City and Henan Province. It is reported that Lushan County, Henan Province, as the hometown of the cowherd and the origin of the cultural legend of the cowherd and weaver girl, was once named "the hometown of Chinese cowherd and weaver girl culture" by the Chinese Folk Artists Association, and the folk culture of the local Qixi Festival is very deep. On the day of the Qixi Festival, the 2023 China (Lushan) Qixi Festival opened in Lushan County, and the sculpture of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" was also unveiled on the same day. In addition, some netizens have noticed that Lushan County has just withdrawn from the series of poverty counties in February 2020. The incident has aroused widespread attention and heated discussion among netizens, and some people believe that the sculpture that was built at a cost of 7.15 million yuan in poverty alleviation county is just a "face project"; Some people also believe that there must be tricks behind the "sky-high price" and should be strictly investigated.
Source: Network
1. Public opinion statistics and trend analysis
In the public opinion monitoring system of China Culture Media Group, from 0:00 on August 25 to 12:00 on August 29, information retrieval with keywords such as "Pingdingshan County spent 7.15 million to build a sculpture of a cowherd and weaver girl" and "7.15 million sculptures in poverty alleviation county" found that the high point of public opinion during the monitoring period appeared on August 26, and the current popularity of public opinion has gradually declined:
Chart: Public opinion attention trend chart
On August 25, netizens complained that Lushan County, Pingdingshan, Henan Province, spent more than 7 million yuan to build a landmark sculpture of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", which was suspected to be too expensive, which aroused the attention and doubts of the media and netizens. Subsequently, @极目新闻记者在中国政府采购网上的一份鲁山县住建局鲁山县迎宾大道路口城市雕塑工程项目中标公告核实到, the sculpture won a bid price of 7.152 million yuan.
On August 26, the staff of the Lushan County Housing and Construction Bureau responded that the bidding for the construction of the sculpture was in accordance with the process, and if there was any doubt about the cost of the sculpture, it could be raised with the audit departments of Pingdingshan City and Henan Province. @贵州广电 when the reporter of "People's Concern" wanted to do further interviews, the staff of the Lushan County Housing and Construction Bureau began to insult: Supervise you X, get out! Subsequently, this incident aroused widespread attention and discussion among netizens, and the heat of public opinion continued to heat up. @央广网. @[email protected], @等多家媒体厎该事件进行报道. #The county spent 7.15 million to build a sculpture of a cowherd and weaver girl# and other related topics on Weibo hot search, and the popularity of public opinion rose rapidly, reaching a peak on the same day, with 31,190 pieces of real-time information disseminated.
On August 27, @每日经济新闻报道该项目中标单位为睿泽艺术 (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. won the bid in July and completed in August, and also won a number of projects. #7.15 million sculpture winning units in poverty alleviation county# quickly appeared on the hot search and aroused widespread comments. Subsequently, the Lushan County government said that "the reporter called the Lushan County Housing Bureau and was insulted by the staff": It is currently verifying the investigation and will deal with the staff involved.
On August 28, @潇湘晨报记者拨通了鲁山县政府办公室的电话, after the reporter identified his identity and intentions, the staff member replied with six "do not know" and one "unclear". In this regard, @澎湃新闻发布 [#Henan Lushan 7.15 million cowherd and weaver girl sculpture causes controversy#, the local government office returned 6 "don't know"], #The local asked 7.15 million sculptures returned 6 didn't know# The topic quickly appeared on the hot search and attracted widespread attention.
August 29, @人民日报, @中国网, @中国青年报等多家媒体对该事件进行报道.
As of 12 o'clock on August 29, from the perspective of information distribution, during the monitoring period, a total of 85,856 pieces of information, 66,893 pieces of client information, 9,890 pieces of video, 6,343 pieces of Weibo, and 1,920 pieces of the Internet were monitored. From the perspective of media communication channels, the client is the main channel for the dissemination of public opinion information, accounting for 77.9%.
Second, the views of netizens
After summarizing the relevant online comments on topics related to this incident, such as "Pingdingshan County spent 7.15 million to build a sculpture of a cowherd and weaver girl" and "7.15 million sculptures in poverty alleviation county", it was found that:
Figure: Distribution of netizen comments
First, the value of spending huge sums of money to build sculptures was questioned, accounting for 32.4%, and typical netizens commented as follows:
@绿野仙踪之大宝: Is this statue worth more than 7 million? The more economically underdeveloped the region, the more they like to show their achievements in an extravagant way, with crude administrative measures and a lack of supervision.
@五好青年是我辣: This is all the people's hard-earned money, which is really taken from all baht and used like mud and sand.
@南京大学学霸93杨: What can this statue do? Can it drive tourism or generate income? When will the relevant departments change this pedantic concept that "sculpture represents culture"?
Second, 35.5% believe that money should be spent on more meaningful things such as solving people's livelihood, and typical netizens comment as follows:
@小朋友 - Have a good dream: why is it bad to use so much money for it, just a few years out of poverty? It's better to build roads well.
@He He He h_: I am a local teacher in Lushan, and 7 million yuan is much better spent on repairing schools and improving teachers' treatment than repairing sculptures that are not useful in repairing.
Third, the aesthetics of the sculpture were questioned, accounting for 17%, and typical netizens commented as follows:
@三号学生213: The most important thing is that the value of the real design is 700w, and this sculpture looks at the level of 100,000, and there is no aesthetic at all.
@背葫芦的七娃: This sculpture has no artistic value and construction value of more than 7 million.
Fourth, it is believed that the relevant management departments should be strictly investigated and strictly managed, accounting for 10.1%, and typical netizens comment as follows:
@窈窕大少: All exposed, when will the relevant departments stay better at this time? I really don't believe that more than 7 million have been spent on the construction of statues.
@岁月静好-jin: Poverty alleviation money can only enter the pockets of stakeholders through such projects! Check it out! A group of rats can't run away.
3. Public opinion commentary
The "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" sculpture that cost 7.15 million yuan to build in Lushan County has caused heated discussions among netizens because of its high cost and ugly shape. "Can this be worth more than 7 million? Don't be greedy for money", "With this effort, it's better to improve people's livelihood", "Is this really good" and other doubts continued, in response to the discussion of netizens, the staff of Lushan County Housing and Construction Bureau responded that "bidding and construction comply with the process".
In recent years, some underdeveloped areas have been keen to create so-called "cultural landmarks" to promote the development of the local cultural tourism industry, after Hubei Jingzhou spent huge sums of money to build the Guan Gongyi Garden with the giant Guan Gong statue as the core landscape, which was later reported to have poor operating income and faced high maintenance fees. Now, Lushan County, which has only withdrawn from the series of poverty-stricken counties in 2020, has built "sky-high" statues. For such expensive landmark, it is clearly not enough to question whether the tender is in accordance with the procedures and regulations, but also to consider how cost-effective it is for local development. Taking this incident as an example, looking at the whole country, the self-proclaimed "origin of Qixi" are Shanxi Heshun, Shandong Yiyuan, Hebei Xingtai Tianhe Mountain, Henan Lushan and other places, not to mention whether Lushan County can "rub the "Qixi" flow", even if it can be recognized by the public, how many tourists can a flashy statue attract and how much revenue can it bring?
Nowadays, the public's concept of tourism is changing from focusing on a single experience to an integrated experience. Taking "Zibo BBQ" as an example, the unique "BBQ" is a "gimmick" to attract tourists, but "hospitality spirit" and "hardcore service" are the "selling points" of the circle; Guizhou "village BA" is popular out of the circle, "part-time" athletes, village head cheerleaders, the prizes are all local specialties... It can be seen that the essence of promoting the development of the local cultural tourism industry is not in the "luxury park", let alone in the "sky-high price statue", only by changing the local cultural tourism development thinking, excavating the local cultural connotation, and creating a healthy tourism development format, can the local cultural tourism industry "come for the source of living water".
In this regard, the following suggestions are put forward for the local government: First, maintain concentration and avoid blindly following the trend of "Internet celebrity attractions". In recent years, man-made "Internet celebrity attractions" have become popular, and people may flock to an unknown attraction because of a tweet from the "Internet celebrity big V", bringing a lot of local benefits. In the face of this situation, local governments need to maintain their determination and spend huge amounts of money to build so-called "Internet celebrity landmarks" for the momentary popularity, which is "harmless" to the development of the cultural tourism industry, and only by creating a healthy and sustainable cultural tourism ecology can it truly benefit the local area. Second, adapt measures to local conditions and revitalize existing local cultural and tourism resources. Some cities are keen to build giant sculptures such as historical figures and cultural landmarks because they make the local culture "visible" in some way. However, this kind of "display" can only stay on the surface, can not form a sustained cultural tourism attraction, can only maintain "temporary scenery". In order to build a sustainable cultural tourism industry, it is necessary to broaden its vision to the overall situation, dig deep into the core of local history and culture, improve the local tourism industry, and comprehensively improve the service level, only then will the local cultural tourism industry survive for a long time. Third, promote the digital development of the local cultural tourism industry. On the basis of existing local cultural and tourism resources, develop virtual digital products to create a unique and immersive cultural tourism experience in the local area, so that excellent cultural and tourism resources can borrow virtual reality technology to "live" and "catch fire".
Responsible editor: Wu Yue